Skin Deep

If all the worlds a stage, Andrea Anderson is sitting in the audience. High school has its predictable heroes, heroines, villains, and plotlines, and Andrea has no problem guessing how each drama will turn out. She is, after all, a professional spectator. In the social hierarchy she is a Nothing, and at home her mother runs the show. All Andrea has to do is show up every day and life basically plays out as scripted.

Then one day Andrea accepts a job. Honora Menapace-a reclusive neighbor-is sick. As in every other aspect of her life, Andreas role is clear: Honoras garden must be taken care of and her pottery finished, and someone needs to feed her dog, Zena. But what starts out as a simple job yanks Andreas back-row seat out from under her. Life is no longer predictable, and nothing is what it seems. Light is dark, villains are heroes, and what she once saw as ugly is too beautiful for words. Andrea must face the fact that life at first glance doesnt even crack the surface.

"Winner of Delacorte's 2006 first YA novel contest, this thoughtful, evenly paced tale focuses on one high schooler's world and all that's frustratingly wrong in it. Sixteen-year-old Andrea Anderson begins her sophomore year feeling hopelessly average and plain, struggling to survive each school day unnoticed and to avoid her single mother's wrath. But when her homeroom teacher commits suicide in the teachers' lounge, Andrea begins to reevaluate her cautious existence. She doesn't shy away when a reclusive neighbor, diagnosed with cancer, needs help caring for her Saint Bernard and sprawling gardens. Instead, she befriends the herb-growing, pottery-making stranger and her enormous dog. Although her plot has plenty of death and abandonment, Crane shows readers about self-discovery and the importance of passion and strength. Some events seem abrupt or unlikely (popular cheerleader Ashley chooses Andrea to be her new best friend for no clear reason), and there may be some easy stereotypes, like the jocks who goose a nerdy student in assembly. But for the most part, the characters seem real and relatable, and when Andrea finally stands up to her mother, readers will empathize. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

E. M. Crane is the winner of the 2006 Delacorte Press Contest for a First Young Adult Novel. She lives in Sackets Harbor, New York, where she is a fulltime writer. Skin Deep is her first book for young readers.